This invention relates, in general, to graders, and, in particular, to right of way graders that can be used in conjunction with railroad cars.
In the prior art various types of graders have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,744 to Bohler discloses a blade attached to a railway car and which is movable toward and away from the side of the car by means of a line on a pulley system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,944 to Speno discloses a side plow which has a blade attached to a railway car and is movable perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,347 to Hyman discloses a grader with a wheel that engages a guide member to move the grader perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,268 to Yard discloses a ballast box which is attached to a railway car and is moved toward and away from the car by a line on a pulley system and hydraulic cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,532 to Muller discloses a device for leveling a railroad right of way by means of a blade which is moved by hydraulic cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,081 to Hannes discloses a grader attached to a railway car by means of a ram which cab be vertically adjusted with respect to the railway car.
The present invention is directed to a right of way grader that is attached to a vehicle such as, but not limited to a KERSHAW ballast regulator wing. The grader will be attached to the wing so that it can be moved toward and away from the wing, and in addition, the blade attached to the grader can be rotated. The grader will allow the device to extend its reach to an area outside the normal ballast area of a railroad track and to clear away brush and small trees which might impinge upon the ballast area.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which can be attached to a railway vehicle to clear brush and small trees from the right of way.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which can be adjusted with respect to the railway vehicle, and in addition, it can be moved up and down and can be rotated from side to side.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which clears right of way of brush and other debris for a safer work or walking area.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which recovers ballast that is too far away for a conventional regulator wing, thereby saving time and money which would be expended in unloading and applying new ballast.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grader which would be useful in clearing snow from the right of way.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be fully apparent from the following description, when taken in connection with the annexed drawings.